How I rate anime
Still Under Construction!
There are two types of 'reviews':
an overview/synopsis, & critical analysis
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Overviews or I will put more simply as a review, tend to summarize the plot, characters, animation, and music with little opinion or interesting to say. Analysis, on the other hand, goes far beyond a normal review and touches all nuances of the show or movie. Analysis tends to have spoilers but reviews not. Anyone can write or record a review, but not everyone can do a good analysis.
Numerical scores are only precisely comparative (For example an 8 score arguably is worst or not as good as a 9) if they are in the same genre (Shounen, seinen, comedy, etc). However, in genres outside of their own, quantified scores have a general measure of how good a show is, however, it does not necessarily imply that a 9 or 10 rating for one show is clearly better than say other another show with a lower score. For example an 8 in Aria the animation doesn't make it the same or similar comparatively to something like Black Lagoon because they have the same rating attached to them.
A "favorite" show and "good" show are different things, however, you can express both perspectives in a single show. I define a personal "favorite" as a show you can watch over and over without it getting "old". And a "good" show has a rating of seven through ten.
If I don't put a rating on a show or manga it probably means I didn't think it was important or I still don't have a strong opinion on the show and have to do some re-watching in the future for analysis.
Here's the grading system I use
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Four(bad) - Either trolling or retarded.
Five(mediocre) - Lacking in basic composure as an anime, poorly executed, developed, and or missing "some thing" entirely.
Six(average) - Does things noticeably one/two-sided, does not branch out or have other purposes, and does things underwhelmingly or generically.
Seven(good) - The likable show, that presents a solid premise that is evenly balanced for the viewing pleasure. "I've seen this before" phrase gets repeated and often is enjoyed by just watching not thinking. A lot of times shows in this range often become boring because of their familiarity with plot or characters.
Eight(great) - Proves itself with redeeming qualities and excels in multiple categories.
Nine(masterful) - Is a milestone and creates precedents for others shows, a "game changer".
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(Ten scores are very subjective and everyone is entitled to have their own opinions and honestly, it is freaking really hard to articulate how some media portrays itself as "good" without actually being in their "shoe" to tell them. Because you can't simply empirically test it and say that "oh, well this show is 10 times better than that other show, or shit this show sucks donkey balls!" ya know!? )
(*note, this description of a ten score is a perfect "ten" in my eyes, I'll give a ten to a show if it masters "some" of these qualifications.* )
Ten(theoretically perfect) - Has to have the ability to be re-watched over and over again. Animation style are of top-notch quality and is creative/unique. Soundtracks are epic/ or just plain great and well placed. Has an exceptional capability to provoke a multitude of thoughts, emotions, feelings, and interpretations. Conjure philosophy, psychology, morals, reason, and logic. Bring up universal themes, archetypes, and allusions. Develop elaborate/complex, original, memorable, characters, plots, and settings. Encompasses all plethora of genres (Comedy, drama, action, adventure, mystery, cyber/steampunk, mecha, romance, school, slice of life, historical, war, etc) and demographics (shounen, shoujo, seinen, and josei). In as little run time as possible. And basically goes down in anime/manga history as THAT anime/manga. Also not to mention ten's usually adhere to my personal bias.
Continual rambling of how I decipher a rating
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Just because I give an anime a low rating doesn't mean that it is all bad. Many shows I don't praise highly as a good, solid show, I still enjoy watching it. I.E. most comedy/slapstick shows. Vice versa, a show a rate the highest score, a 10, one might not entirely agree with. For what goes into rating an anime, one must understand that most animes are an adaptation. For example, a show can come from a light novel, visual novel, video game, manga or straight from the creator without any prior forms of media. An adaption that bases it self on a prior media source has the tendency to be depicted either well or not to its full potential. This is because it was the direct result of the studio and the director. This means when in control of source material, a storyboard writer can chose how many volumes to adapt, what characters are to be animated, to remove gore, nudity, and vulgarity, how many episodes are allows to even be animated, and this all is accounted for by production cost, due dates, and even if the source material is not finished. In full, directors have the right to bend and twist a show’s content from its original source to maintain an episode limit, to make it less ecchi or what have you. This in turn makes some anime adaptations better or worse in comparison to the source material. I.E. Love hina manga is 10x better then it’s anime counterpart or Elfen lied anime was so much better than the manga exc.
In addition it is important to recognize a certain anime as a sequel, prequel, reboot, or stand alone/one shot in order to fully give a comprehensive and critical rating. Knowing if a series is a sequel or a reboot changes the rating of a show because you can't just rate the show solely on its merits, one has to also take in account the other shows, and how well it integrated itself into the series, like if it opened up new plot lines, or improved on character development and so on. I.E. when they cry season one was slow as all hell, but the second season had better character development.
Then one can categorize the genre and demographically placement of the series. It is important to understand that not everyone enjoys all genres. I.E. A person who is only into action, cliché, shounen shows attempts to watch a josei, mystery, romance show might give a negative opinion because it's not the person's "cup of tea". So one has to compensate for that by removing their own bias and reviewing purely on its own merits and keeping in mind it’s simply not for “them”, but also understands how other people can enjoy it. After that, one may compile thoughts on show from the character development, plot integrity, story longevity, usage of foreshadowing, archetypes, themes, and overall progression holistically. How a story and characters are portrayed is crucial for one to figure out what the show is "going for". And what I mean by that is that all shows can be pinpointed down to have "goals", and it’s determined by the mind director of the anime or the writer of the manga. A mangaka who only draws and writes generic hentai isn't going to focus other aspects like plot or an over arching story line for the most part. And an anime whose only purpose is to crack you up isn't going to become serious. Thus, a show that tries to be serious and fails, deserves a low score. And also I rate anime, movies, and ovas, slightly differently, so a 9 for and anime and a 9 for a movie are little off.
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